When a President tells NASA that its primary mission is to make Muslims feel good about their contribution to science, it’s clear why the US has fallen so far in science and technology.    This is the type of patronizing psychobabble that only an affirmative action baby could truly believe in.

The boss of the National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration disclosed his agency’s new purpose right after he said he was “excited” to be interviewed on Al Jazeera–a TV network best known for collaboration with Muslim terrorist organizations.  Even his interviewer wasn’t sure why he was there.

The term algebra did come from Arabic and the Muslims did a good job preserving knowledge during the Dark Ages when they were open to new ideas and Western nations weren’t.  Orthodox rigidity of thought does not lead to innovation or discovery in science, technology or any field.

Which is exactly why America is declining in science and engineering.  American universities have been taken over by the orthodoxy of  “entitled interest groups.” In the Dark Ages in Europe, the feudal lords were the entitled interest groups.  They were deferred to and kept their positions by squashing innovation.   Imperial China did the same for Chinese innovation as have the mullahs for the last eight hundred years in Muslim countries.

In the new Dark Age in American Universities, our academic mullahs have enshrined various ethnic groups, women and sexual preferences.  These professors and members of these groups are hallowed representatives of past martyrs.  They must be catered to.  A corollary mindset focused on patronage, lawsuits and grants has replaced the old focus on academic achievement and excellence.  Even science and engineering must bow to the gods of the entitled interest groups.

The effect of this mindset in modern America is evident daily in the oil washing up on American beaches.  Our Administration responds not by deploying American technology and ingenuity but with lawsuits and name calling.

This is the same administration which 18 days before the spill was saying how safe deep sea drilling was.  You’d think this catastrophe would be humbling or at least illuminating–showing the need for better science advisors for our lawyer president.  But if you think this, you underestimate the power of the patronage/lawsuit/grant mindset.

It’s power is how we get an Administrator of NASA  who knows little about science or engineering, but knows well how to spout the multicultural mantras.  Once upon a time, American ingenuity created all sorts of technical innovations which won World Wars and gave us the highest standard of living in the world.

Where it has not been snuffed out, that ingenuity is now concentrated on creating innovative lawsuits for extracting wealth from big corporations.  Or insuring that the pensions of entitled interest groups (such as government workers) are not reduced. Or maneuvering to create a career in the minefields of our politically correct bureaucracies.

I’m so glad I grew up before this mindset was totally in control and that I recognized it before I raised any children.

I’m really glad that the previous mindset created a wonderful tomato hybrid named Better Boy which I can plant in July for fall tomatoes.  These plants should give us plenty of sauce for the winter and, when we move some to the greenhouse, fresh tomatoes throughout the winter.

Today, they give me something productive to do as society slowly and almost imperceptibly disintegrates around me.  At least I can thank the NASA Administrator for alerting me once again to the disintegration.  I just hope we can stop it.  If not, maybe a few monasteries will arise to protect learning as the new dark age descends.